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Single Idea 10643

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment ]

Full Idea

Some philosophers speak about a theory's 'ideological commitments' and not just about its 'ontological commitments'.

Gist of Idea

We speak of a theory's 'ideological commitments' as well as its 'ontological commitments'

Source

Øystein Linnebo (Plural Quantification [2008], 5.4)

Book Ref

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.20


A Reaction

This is a third strategy for possibly evading one's ontological duty, along with fiddling with the words 'exist' or 'object'. An ideological commitment to something to which one is not actually ontologically committed conjures up stupidity and dogma.


The 10 ideas from 'Plural Quantification'

'Some critics admire only one another' cannot be paraphrased in singular first-order [Linnebo]
Predicates are 'distributive' or 'non-distributive'; do individuals do what the group does? [Linnebo]
Second-order quantification and plural quantification are different [Linnebo]
Plural plurals are unnatural and need a first-level ontology [Linnebo]
Ordinary speakers posit objects without concern for ontology [Linnebo]
A pure logic is wholly general, purely formal, and directly known [Linnebo]
Plural quantification may allow a monadic second-order theory with first-order ontology [Linnebo]
Instead of complex objects like tables, plurally quantify over mereological atoms tablewise [Linnebo]
Traditionally we eliminate plurals by quantifying over sets [Linnebo]
We speak of a theory's 'ideological commitments' as well as its 'ontological commitments' [Linnebo]